lThe government will present the skipper of the Indian cricket team Sourav Ganguly with assorted Bengali sweets and a dhoti-punjabi set made from muslin on Friday afternoon at a felicitation. Sourav’s wife Dona will be gifted a Baluchari sari at the function to be held at Netaji Indoor Stadium. Urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya announced at Writers’ Buildings on Wednesday that Sourav will also be presented with a gold-bordered silver plate for taking the team to the World Cup final in South Africa. Bhattacharya said Sourav’s team mates will not be present as they are “too tired”. However, attempts are on to bring in Kapil Dev, who had captained India to victory in the World Cup final in 1983. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will preside over the one-hour function.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Wednesday that the health department, NGOs and panchayats should throw in their weight to make the pulse polio immunisation programme a success in Bengal. Appealing to people to have their children immunised during the state-wide programme on April 6, Bhattacharjee said polio was the biggest health problem in India. “We have decided to administer polio vaccine from all our health sub-centres in the districts every Wednesday. Health workers will conduct a door-to-door immunisation campaign in the rural areas,” he added.

Fares of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi Express have been revised from April 1, according to an Eastern Railways press release. Fares in all classes of these trains have been reduced, except those of AC chair car of Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, which remain the same. The fares have already come into effect in all the computerised reservation counters. Passengers who have booked tickets prior to April 1 can obtain a refund at any computerised reservation office in case the new fares are less than the old ones. The Howrah-Malda Town Jan Shatabdi Express on-board catering service has been made optional from April 1. Ticket fare has been accordingly restructured excluding all catering charges.

Mayor Subrata Mukherjee and Calcutta Municipal Corporation commissioner Debasish Som attended Calcutta High Court on Wednesday in a contempt case. Justice B. Bhattacharya exempted both of them from attending the court in the near future. The judge had directed them to appear before him for disobeying an order to restore the water connection of two buildings in Camac Street and Free School Street. The owners had filed cases after the civic body disconnected water lines for alleged non- payment of taxes.